You can get a good impression of what this band's music is about by just reading its name. Each Theatre of Tragedy song is a small play, with lyrics as dramatic and emotive as a classic's script, and beautifully enhanced by the contrast between a deep growl and some really soft female vocals.
The music is equally theatrical. It has great keyboards and a really good guitar sound. I specially love their self-titled debut album and the later released Velvet Darkness they Fear CD, in which this sound is still kept, since their latest work tends to a more gothic style, that eliminates all growling vocals (or so I've heard).
Personally, I think the initial contrast the vocals gave to the music is extremely necessary, since Liv Christine's voice has no real strength of its own. I know, I know, it is meant to be that way, but I still believe it takes a little more that just whisper to deserve a soprano title. Maybe she does have real vocal abilities and she's just keeping them to herself because they're not supposed to fit in the music... In that case, I think she may be wasting a lot of talent...
But anyway, in spite of what Liv is or is not doing with her voice (which shouldn't have been the main subject of this little page...), Theatre of Tragedy is a good band. Lately a lot of other groups have imitated their style and now everybody wants to have growls and female vocals in their music, but very few of them actually make music that's really worth hearing. And this is definitely one of them.
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